As Of Yesterday, Lake Mead Below 1070', Five Feet Below Shortage Trigger Level
Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the U.S. created by the Hoover Dam in Nevada, has sunk to its lowest levels ever, as extreme heat and drought scorch the western U.S.
Located 30 miles (50 km) east of Las Vegas, Lake Mead is crucial for millions of people in the western part of the country. It supplies water for 25 million people including in cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, Tucson, Phoenix and Las Vegas, while the Hoover Dam generates hydroelectric power for 1.3 million people in Nevada, Arizona, and California. Currently, the lake is 16 feet below where it was this time last year, with the reservoir only 37% full.
Researchers are already warning that the dwindling water supply in Lake Mead will affect millions in the west, with some people being forced to make painful water cuts. Scientists are also projecting that Colorado River, which feeds into Lake Mead, could declare its first water-shortage later this year. Reuters reports that the lake’s water level has dropped more than 140 feet since 2000, losing over 5.5 trillion gallons of water in that time. The lake’s surface has recently fallen below 1,070 feet above sea level since it was filled in the 1930's according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
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Farmers have been forced to abandon crops, Nevada’s new law bans about 40% of "useless grass" in Las Vegas in effort to conserve water, and the Governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, asked people to pray for rain. Temperatures set new records for the region last week with some hitting as high as 118 degrees (48 Celsius).
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https://newsus.cgtn.com/news/2021-06-23/Lake-Mead-reaches-lowest-levels-amid-severe-drought-in-the-western-US-11jG1FVDM8o/index.html
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It's not a matter of catching flood waters. Lake Mead hasn't been full for twenty years so it's essentially catching all the flood water upstream of the dam.
I figure Arizona will start swapping electricity for California's share of Colorado River water. This electricity would power desalinization plants on the California coast for local use.
Cities in the Los Angeles and San Diego metropolitan areas currently import water from the Colorado River for a portion of their water supply. They could switch to desalinated water subsidized by Arizona. In return Arizona would get their share of Colorado River water.
Arizona already has arrangements like this with some Indian tribes and Mexico, so it's not politically impossible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River_Aqueduct
It's easier to send electricity from Arizona to the California coast than it is to pump desalinated water from the coast uphill and over mountains to Lake Mead.
If Arizona could cooperate with Mexico then desalinization plants could also be built in Mexico drawing water from the Gulf of California. Pumping that desalinated water uphill to Phoenix isn't an insurmountable technical challenge but the water would be expensive. Most residential users could afford to use their toilets for a penny or two per flush and take long showers, but desalinated water is too expensive for farmers.
It's insane to use fossil fuels to desalinate seawater because fossil fuels caused this problem and are making it worse. Fortunately there are other ways to make electricity.
Rather than abandoning Phoenix to global warming when the Colorado River dead pools at Lake Mead, and the Salt River is reduced to an occasional trickle, I suspect Arizonians will embrace nuclear power and desalinization plants even if they have to help pay for desalinization plants in California and Mexico.
Going to "war" over water would be a grave mistake. Arizona would lose and the Phoenix metropolitan area would depopulate as conditions became more intolerable.
